1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film magnetic head slider used for a magnetic disk unit, a manufacturing method therefor and an electrostatic actuator for driving a head element thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the magnetic disk unit has been made compact, its performance has been highly enhanced, and its cost has been reduced. In accordance with the recent tendency, it is desired to develop a thin film magnetic head of high performance and low cost. In order to meet the demand, a horizontal magnetic head (planar magnetic head) is proposed, in which a thin film pattern surface is arranged in parallel with an air bearing surface. The reason is described as follows. In the case of a horizontal magnetic head, it is easy to form floating rails having specific shapes. Therefore, it is possible to realize a magnetic head capable of flying stably close to the disc surface, and further it is easy to reduce the portion to be machined in the manufacturing process, so that the cost can be lowered.
Examples of the conventional horizontal magnetic head slider are shown in the following publications.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, vol 25, p.3190, 1989, "A New Thin Film Head Generation" by J. P.Lazzari and P.Deroux-Dauphin. In this conventional example, a recess is formed on the surface of a silicon substrate by means of etching, and a magnetic head element is formed in the recess. In this case, the silicon substrate surface is used as an air bearing surface opposed to a recording medium. Therefore, the terminal of the magnetic head is introduced onto the back of the slider. Accordingly, a through-hole penetrating the silicon substrate is formed so as to extend from the terminal. In this example, the slider body is manufactured by means of machining.
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, vol 25, p.3686, 1989 "A New Approach to Making Thin Film Head-Slider Devices" by Daniel W. Chapman. In this conventional example, a thin film magnetic head element is formed on the substrate from the air bearing surface side, and an insulating film is made to be flat, and then a glass substrate through which a through-hole is penetrated is subjected to bonding. In this way, the slider body is made. After that, the substrate is etched for removal, and the slider body is cut by means of machining.
In the above conventional examples, it is necessary to provide the manufacturing processes of machining the slider body, assembling a head suspension to the slider individually, forming a through-hole penetrating the substrate, embedding a conductor in the through-hole, and bonding of a glass substrate. Accordingly the manufacturing process becomes complicated.